[FREE IRAN Project] In The Spirit Of Cyrus The GreatViews expressed here are not necessarily the views & opinions of ActivistChat.com. Comments are unmoderated. Abusive remarks may be deleted. ActivistChat.com retains the rights to all content/IP info in in this forum and may re-post content elsewhere.

Protests by the Iranian Kurds condemning the brutal murder of Shwane Ghaderi reached the Kurdistan province capital, Sanandaj. Hundreds of people gathered outside the Governer's office in a peaceful protest and carried placards demanding the trial of those responsible for Shwane's murder.

Another gathering took place in Isteqlal(Taj) Park and soon after the gatherers poured into the surrounding streets, they started shouting slogans against the Islamic regime and in support of the political prisoners.

Once the crowd reached Ferdowsi bridge, the Law Enforcement Forces attacked the demonstrators who were attracting more and more support from the people. The demonstrators responded by setting a Special Unit vehicle on fire and smashing the windows of government buildings.

Law Enforcement Forces used tear gas to disperse the crowd, but the protests continued until the late hours when live rounds were used to break up the crowd.

In another violent protest in the city of Baneh two youths were reported killed.

On Saturday the people of Divandareh took to the streets in large numbers again demanding the trial of those who murdered Shwane. The Law Enforcement Forces refrained from shooting at the demonstrators but tried to contain the crowd by blocking all the nearby streets.

What has angered the people even more are the claims by the Mahabad governor who alleged the scar running from Shwane's abdomen upto his chest, shown in the photos of his mutilated body, was a result of the autopsy carried out on Shwane. Yet a video tape of a soldier who witnessed Shwane's murder and torture is circulating amongst the Kurdish population in which the witness states Shwane was cut up while still alive and the Islamic state security forces were even extinguishing their cigarettes in Shwane's wounds as they were cutting him up.

Amnesty International today expressed alarm at the cycle of violence in the Iranian province of Kordestan and neighbouring Kurdish areas, which has reportedly left up to 20 people dead, hundreds wounded. Hundreds of others are believed to have been arrested, including prominent Kurdish human rights defenders and activists.

Amnesty International is urging the Iranian government to promptly initiate an urgent, impartial and independent investigation into these reports. The methods are findings of such an investigation must be made public. Officials suspected of responsibility for human rights violations such as unlawful killings/extrajudicial executions should be brought to justice in accordance with fair trial procedures.

Among those arrested during the disturbance are prominent Kurdish human rights defenders and activists. Dr Roya Toloui, a womens’ rights activist, was arrested at her home in Sanandaj on 2 August. According to her husband, who has not been allowed access to her, she is detained on charges of “disturbing the peace” and “acting against national security”. Azad Zamani, a member of the Association for the Defence of Children's Rights (ADCR, or Kanoun-e Defa’ az Hoqouq-e Koudekan), was also arrested in Sinne. Jalal Qavami, a journalist and a member of the editorial board of the journal Payam-e Mardom, was arrested at his workplace after agents of Iran’s security forces initially raided his residence. Mahmoud Salehi, the spokesman for the Organisational Committee to Establish Trade Unions, was arrested in the early hours of 4 August, and the security forces have also closed down two Kurdish newspapers.

Amnesty International is calling on the Iranian authorities to urgently provide the names of all those detained, their current whereabouts, the reasons for their arrest, and details of any charges against them. All detainees must be treated humanely and given prompt access to their lawyer, family and any medical treatment necessary. Anyone who is not to be charged with a recognisably criminal offence must be released immediately and unconditionally.

Following reports that the Iranian government has today deployed large numbers of troops, backed up by helicopter gunships, into the region, Amnesty International calls on the |ranian authorities to ensure that their security forces abide by international standards of conduct of law enforcement. In particular, they must respect and protect the right to life, to freedom from torture and ill-treatment and to freedom from arbitrary arrest.

Background
The unrest began in the town of Mahabad, in early July, following the shooting of Shivan Qaderi, a Kurdish opposition activist, also known as Sayed Kamal Astam, or Astom, and two other Kurdish men, by Iranian forces in the town of Mahabad on 9 July, in circumstances where they may not have posed an immediate threat. The security forces then reportedly tied Shivan Qaderi’s body to a Toyata jeep and dragged him in the streets. The local Iranian authorities are reported to have confirmed that a person of this name, “who was on the run and wanted by the judiciary”, was indeed shot and killed by security forces at this time, allegedly while trying to evade arrest.

During the days following Shivan Qaderi’s death, several thousand Mahabad residents, mainly youths, took to the streets to protest the killings. Since then, demonstrations have erupted in the mainly Kurdish neighbouring towns of Sanandaj, Mahabad, Sardasht, Piranshahr, Oshnavieh, Baneh, Sinne, Bokan and Saqiz. The Iranian state-owned media has reported and confirmed the unrest of the past 3 weeks, but have described the situation as due to “hooligan and criminal elements”.

In a letter dated 22 July 2005 the organization wrote to Iran’s Interior Minister, Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari, seeking clarification of the circumstances surrounding the killing of Sayed Kamal Astam, or Astom, also known as Shivan Qaderi , and the arrest of scores of people in Mahabad and the surrounding areas in the days following his death. The organization expressed concern that the killing may have been deliberate and that those detained may not have access to independent lawyers of their choice or their families and that they may be at risk of torture or ill-treatment
The Kurds are one of Irans many ethnic minority groups, and number around 10% of the population. They mainly live in the province of Kordistan and neighbouring provinces bordering Turkey and Iraq. A UN report released last week said authorities were denying basic amenities to Iran's ethnic and religious minorities and in some cases seizing land.

A heavy explosion rocked, this afternoon, a militia camp located in the northwestern City of Marivan by resulting in tens of wounded among Islamic republic's security forces.

The camp was established following the start of the wave of unrest and violent clashes that are taking place in the city and the region for the last two weeks.

This explosion which follows the increase of use of booby traps and guns against regime's security agents is showing the radicalization of the situation and the degree of popular exasperation.

Also, more scattered protest actions and clashes took place, tonight, in several regional cities, such as, Sanandaj, Kermanshah and Mian-do-Ab. Noise of shooting were heard from several areas of these cities.

The number of security forces is in constant raise and massive arrests are made in the region. Many protesters filmed by security agents are arrested at their homes and are transferred to militia posts.

It's to note that more and more of region's residents are resorting to protest following President Bush's wise statement on the "need of respecting the territorial integrity of Iran". Till then, most residents of the Iranian provinces of Kurdistan and W. Azarbaijan were fearing to become indirect tools in service of few independentist groups who are targeting to split them from Iran.

To counter balance the escalation, the Islamic regime's intelligence circles have increased the propaganda activity and are spreading rumors about the existence of plot targeting to split the region from Iran. The theocratic leadership hopes to calm the situation by making fear to residents who are deeply attached to Iran. This attachment is deep and strong to the point that some ultra left wing Kurdish groups, such as Komelah, have officially renounced, since years, to independence, and are declaring seeking a better Kurdistan in the frame of a democratic and equitable Iran.

Kurds are from a branch of the Iranian peoples' family and their local language, such as Persian, is a derivation of Iranian languages. Such common roots and centuries of shared culture and history are the main causes of Iranian Kurds attachment to Iran, contrary to the situation existing in Iraq, Turkey and Syria where races and languages are totally different.

Iran was formerly known as Persia. This name change happened in 1935 in order to avoid any discrimination among Iranians of different ethnicity. Iran means the land of Free and all those living in the Iranian plateau.

Cyrus the Great, the unifier and founder of Iran, was of father Persian and of Mother Kurdish.

Several militiamen were injured, yesterday, near the northwestern City of Sardasht. The explosive device went on as their group passed by. This is the first time that unidentified elements are resorting to use such device in this region.

Protest actions and even armed reaction to regime's brutality is expanding in the region despite the increasing number of security forces.

Situation of several cities, such as, Saghez, Baneh, Marivan and Sannandaj are very critical following the last two weeks of unrest which has shocked the region.

Reporters Without Borders today condemned a wave of harassment of Kurdish journalists by local authorities in Iranian Kurdistan, which has been hit by clashes in recent weeks, and the closure of the daily Achti and the weekly Asou at the behest of the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance.

"We condemn this crackdown on the Kurdish press because Iranian Kurdistan has more need than ever of its journalists in these times of great tension," the press freedom organisation said. "We call on the authorities to stop the harassment of Kurdish journalists and to lift the suspension of Achti and Asou."

Asou, which is published in both Kurdish and Farsi, was closed by judicial officials in Sanandaj (the capital of Kurdistan) on 3 August, probably because of its editorial line and its coverage of the events shaking the region.

The closure of Achti followed, probably for the same reasons. Published in Tehran in Kurdish, it had recently received permission to change from a weekly to a daily. The source of the orders for the closure of both newspapers was the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance.

Several journalists are known to have been arrested but, given the many arrests that have taken place in the region, many more are probably being held. Roya Tolou, the editor of the newspaper Resan, was detained by police in Sanandaj on 2 August. Ejlal Ghavami, a journalist with the weekly Payam-e mardom-e Kurdestan, was also arrested the same day.

Other journalists have been summoned to appear before local authorities for reasons that are unknown but probably related to reports published in the past few weeks.

Mohammad Sadegh Kabovand, Payam-e mardom-e Kurdestan's editor, was asked to appear before a court in Sanandaj yesterday. He did appear but without his lawyer, who is none other than Abdolfattah Soltani, who was arrested on the orders of Tehran prosecutor Said Mortazavi on 30 July.

This is not the first time Kabovand has been harassed by local judicial officials. He was arrested and taken before a court in Sanandaj on 15 June 2004 for "spreading separatist ideas and publishing false reports" and the court ordered the closure of his newspaper two weeks later.

Concern is escalating at the escalating crisis in Iran’s north-west Kurdish regions that has left at least 20 dead and numerous wounded and imprisoned. Protection of human rights has deteriorated rapidly as protests and civil unrest in the cities of Saqiz, Sine, Mahabad, Serdesht, Piranshar, Meriwan, Shino, Baneh, Divan and Dareh have been met by excessive force by state security forces, plainclothes agents and paramilitary Islamic vigilantes. The government has implemented de-facto martial law in many areas, and has reportedly deployed over 100,000 troops and helicopter gunships to the region.

Human rights violations reported have included the gunning down of civilians by military helicopter, the harassment and imprisonment of journalists and human rights defenders, indiscriminate arrests of civilians including children, the torture or ill-treatment of detained Kurdish protestors, and the closure of two newspapers.

The crisis threatens to escalate yet further, with implications for the security of the wider region. The depth and breadth of the situation, coupled with the Iranian government’s refusal to provide adequate information, demands the immediate attention of the international community.

The Democratic Party of Kurdistan-Iran (PDK-I) has released the names of 17 of the dead, all of whom were Kurds.

Journalists and human rights defenders confirmed to have been arrested include:

Madih Ehamedi (human rights defender and journalist)
Jalal Qavami (journalist and member of the editorial board of the journal Payam-e Mardom)
Eclali Qewami (human rights campaigner and journalist)
Roya Toloui (editor of Rassan - a periodical that highlights the situation of Kurdish women in Iran)
Mahmoud Salehi (spokesperson for the Organisational Committee to Establish Trade Unions)
Dr Ruyai Telyi (activist and writer)
Azad Zamani (activist in the Association in Defence of Children’s Rights)

The whereabouts of several of the detainees are still unknown.

The unrest was ignited by the killing of Shivan Qaderi [1], a key figure in Mahabad’s Kurdish national movement. According to eyewitnesses, Qaderi was shot at point blank range. Then still alive, he was reportedly tied to a Toyota Jeep and dragged through the streets. Local Iranian authorities assert that Qaderi was killed by security forces while attempting to evade arrest.

The unrest, ranging from peaceful sit-ins to violent clashes, soon escalated, spreading to many other cities in the region, as many in the Kurdish population expressed dissatisfaction with the cycle of violence, arrests and oppressive behaviour of Iranian forces.

There are nearly 9-million Kurds in Iran, constituting between 11 and 16 per cent of the population. The recent presidential election, which was heavily boycotted by Kurds, brought to power hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is suspected of involvement in the assassination of PDK-I leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou in 1989. Many Kurds feared his ascension would usher in a worrying rollback of the little reform that had occurred under Mohammed Khatami.

Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director, says, “We are urging the Iranian Government to provide access to an independent team of observers to ascertain the true nature of the crisis. Proper investigation is also required into the killings, arbitrary arrests, and use of torture or ill-treatment. It is imperative that security and military forces act according to recognised international standards of conduct and international human rights treaties.”

Further unrest in Kurdish western Iran kills two
07 Aug 2005 14:03:23 GMT

Source: Reuters thru regimechangeiran

TEHRAN, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Two people have been killed, eight injured and 145 arrested in unrest among the Kurds of western Iran, Iran's Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

The deaths in the town of Saqqez followed rioting and a gun battle elsewhere in Kurdish-dominated territories.

The Interior Ministry Web site named the dead men in Saqqez as Mohammad Shariati, a 55-year-old retired teacher, and 18-year-old Farzad Mohammadi.

It quoted an unnamed senior official as saying that police had denied firing their pistols, but investigators were looking into the type of shots fired to work out what had happened.

"Public and state-owned buildings, including banks, were damaged," the official said.

The Sharq daily quoted deputy provincial governor Alireza Jamshidi as saying 100 of those arrested had been released.

Kurds rioted in the town of Mahabad last month. Shortly afterwards, three Iranian policemen were killed in a gun battle with Kurdish separatists.

Iranian officials deny the rash of unrest on the western borders is ethnically motivated, but Kurdish leaders disagree, saying Tehran's discrimination towards their people was fomenting discontent.

A U.N. report last month suggested Tehran was discriminating against its religious and ethnic minorities in the allocation of basic amenities._________________The Sun Is Rising In The West!Soon It Will Shine on All of Iran!

Sunday, August 07, 2005
Security tight at Kurdish town on strike in Iran

Iran Focus: an MEK website thru regimechangeiran
.
Iran’s State Security Forces and agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security have been on heightened alert on Sunday in the Kurdish town of Bukan, northwest Iran, following a general strike in the central bazaar and in many shops, residents reported.

The general strike was in protest to authorities’ violent crackdown on the restive Kurdish population in western Iran. Over the past month, there have been continuous anti-government protests in Iran’s Kurdish region. A number of demonstrators were killed by agents of the SSF who were attempting to prevent an escalation of dissent. READ MORE

Security on Sunday was tight and residents reported groups of SSF agents, Revolutionary Guards, Bassijis (paramilitary Islamic vigilantes loyal to the Supreme Leader) and agents of the dreaded Ministry of Intelligence at key locations throughout Bukan.

Armed agents of the SSF approached gatherings of more than two people in Enghelab Street, Farmandari Square, Eskandari Square, Molavi Junction, Etelaat Junction and near the old hospital, witnesses said. Agents demanded proof of identity from people being questioned in these streets.

Police have set up checkpoints at many of the main routes into Bukan, in particular those coming from Saqqez, Mahabad, and Miandoab where much of the unrest has taken place.

Several journalists and a number of prominent human rights activists in Kurdistan and Western Azerbaijan have also been arrested over the past week for supporting protestors._________________The Sun Is Rising In The West!Soon It Will Shine on All of Iran!

QUESTION: Do you have anything on the Iranian decision to end the suspension on
uranium enrichment?

MR. ERELI: The International Atomic Energy Agency this morning informed IAEA
member states that Iran has reintroduced nuclear material into its Isfahan
uranium conversion facility. Obviously, this would represent a breach of the
November 2004 Paris agreement with the EU-3 in which Iran pledged to suspend
its enrichment-related fuel cycle activities, including any uranium conversion
tests or production. I would note that the British and the French have made
public statements expressing their concern about this development. I would also
note that there is an IAEA Board of Governors meeting tomorrow. We will be
consulting closely with our EU-3 colleagues in advance of that meeting about
how we should respond to this action and appropriate next steps.

The important thing to remember in all of this is that the EU-3 provided Iran
with a very good proposal for dealing with this problem. We support that
proposal. We were hopeful that they would be able to have talks in August. It
appears that Iran has rejected that proposal and we will be working with --
we'll continue to work with the EU-3 in support of efforts to get this process
back on track.

QUESTION: You don't want to characterize it?

MR. ERELI: Characterize what?

QUESTION: You don't want to characterize the Iranian move?

MR. ERELI: It's a violation of the Paris agreements. It's something that we
said we didn't want to see. And it's something that we and the international
community will be responding to.

QUESTION: You said, "get the process back on track." Does that mean that the
focus is still to get the negotiations with the EU-3 going, as opposed to
taking them to the Security Council?

MR. ERELI: I think the focus is on addressing a program which is of concern to
the international community because it is characterized by deception and
obfuscation and what we need to do as a, again, as a collective is to prevent
Iran from using its nuclear program to develop nuclear weapons.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Well, Adam, you say "deception" but apparently there was a Reuters
reporter right on the scene who saw two workers feeding yellow cake right into
a --

MR. ERELI: I was referring to 20 years of clandestine nuclear activity.

Yes.

QUESTION: Adam, the United States has been very clear that once the seals were
broken that the next move would be to the Security Council. Can you confirm
that or do you see any other options at this point?

MR. ERELI: Well, I think our position on referral is well known. And what I
would say in response to this latest development is that we will be conferring
with our EU-3 and other Board of Governor colleagues about what, you know, what
is the appropriate step to take in response to what's happened and how we can
effectively address the concerns of the international community.

QUESTION: Do you expect end process of that was going to be referred to the UN,
though?

MR. ERELI: I don't want to predict an outcome of what will happen and when,
other than to stress, once again, that this is a -- this is basically, in
rejecting the EU-3 offer and taking this step, this is Iran thumbing its nose
at a productive approach by the EU-3 and we'll have to work together to take
response.

QUESTION: Can we change the subject?

MR. ERELI: Changing the subject.

QUESTION: It's said that Iranian President wants to participate in the next UN
General Assembly in New York. Are you willing to issue a visa for him, knowing
the fact that he was a leader of the student Iranian movement, which organized
hostages killing?

MR. ERELI: We've received a request for a visa. We're reviewing that request,
obviously bearing in mind our responsibilities under the Headquarters
Agreement, also taking into consideration previous activities with respect to
hostage-taking.

QUESTION: Well, so, can you say definitively then that your investigation into
whether the president was a member of the -- or was one of the perpetrators of
the actual hostage-taking will have an effect on whether you issue him a visa?

MR. ERELI: It's obviously something that is relevant to the decision being
made.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Yeah, do you have anything on the --

MR. ERELI: I'm sorry. Anything more on this?

QUESTION: Yeah.

MR. ERELI: Okay, go ahead.

QUESTION: Well, in that vein there, the only reports that we've had is that so
far no evidence has been turned up to support the claim of the five hostages.
Have you turned up new evidence that would support the claim that the president
was indeed involved in hostage-taking?

MR. ERELI: What's been said is the president was a student leader and involved
in the events. What hasn't been determined is was he actually a hostage-taker
and at the scene of the -- and at the scene, as some hostages have said. We
certainly take those concerns seriously. We are looking into them. I'm not
aware that there's been -- we've been able to determine what the factual basis
is. We continue to look at that and we continue to -- we, as well as other
parts of the U.S. Government, continue to look at that and continue to try to
come to some factual closure on it.

Yes.

QUESTION: What has the hostage-taking, or any concerns that you have about him,
got to do with this visa? Because you have an obligation to allow him to go to
a UN meeting. There's plenty of people who aren't your friends who go to those
meetings -- Castro being one. Why is this an issue?

MR. ERELI: Well, this is -- again, I don't want to -- I want to have this --
how shall I put it? I don't want to talk about our consultations and our
deliberations on this issue, make it a public discussion. I will say that we
have -- we are mindful of Headquarters Agreements responsibilities. We also
take very seriously information that someone has been involved in
hostage-taking of American citizens, in contravention of international law and
international practice, and that certainly is a relevant consideration in the
matter at hand.

Yes.

QUESTION: I have two questions. First of all, Mr. Ahmadinejad. So is there a
possibility that you will deny a visa eventually?

MR. ERELI: We are reviewing the application.

QUESTION: Okay. Second question about Iran. Since July 9th, Iranian Kurdish
area has been the scene of some violent demonstrations. People are
demonstrating against the killing of a political activist. Iranian Government
is said to have used helicopter gunships and all kinds of, you know, tools to
crack down on the demonstrators. What is the --

MR. ERELI: This is in Iran?

QUESTION: Yes, this is still on Iran. And they have asked for the international
community for help -- the Kurdish activists and organizations. What is the U.S.
response for this call?

MR. ERELI: Honestly, I'm not informed enough about the activities that you ask
about to give you a good answer. Let me see if I can find out: (a) what we know
about the activity; and (b) what, if any, our response is to an appeal that --
from Iran that I haven't heard about. But, you know, just as a placeholder --
well, I'll just leave it at that.

QUESTION: Going back to the visa issue, is there a precedent? Or rather, to
just get some background, has any other head of state been denied a visa going
to a UN meeting in New York?

MR. ERELI: I'll check the record books and see what we can come up with

Question: What is our reaction to Iranian government crackdown on ethnic
minority Kurds in northern party of country?

Answer: The United States is concerned by reports of an Iranian government
crackdown on ethnic Kurds in northern Iran, and in Iran's southwestern province
of Khuzestan. These reports indicate that several people have been killed and
that many more, perhaps hundreds, may have been arrested.

Denial of the rights of minority groups is one aspect of the
regime's appalling human rights and democracy record that has been well
documented by non-governmental organizations and in our annual Country Report
on Human Rights. We call on the Iranian authorities to exercise restraint and
to respect the peaceful exercise by the Iranian people of their democratic
rights.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Four policemen were killed on Sunday fighting Kurdish separatists near the town of Urmia in Iran's restive and mountainous western borderlands, a police spokesman said on Tuesday.

Tension has been simmering among Iran's Kurdish minority since last month when rioting erupted in the town of Mahabad. Shortly after those riots, three policemen were killed in a gun battle with separatists near the town of Oshnavieh.

Officials said on Sunday the unrest had spread to the Kurdish town of Saqqez, where two people died and 145 were arrested during demonstrations in which state buildings and banks were damaged.

"I can confirm four dead in Urmia," the police spokesman said, giving the death toll from the latest outbreak of violence between the security forces and Iranian Kurds.

Iranian authorities say all seven policemen who died fighting separatists in the last two months were killed by fighters from a group called Pezhak.

Security experts say Pezhak is an Iranian wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose separatist struggle has regained momentum in southeast Turkey after it called off a unilateral cease-fire last summer. It was not immediately clear whether any Kurdish fighters were killed in the gun battles in Iran.

Iranian officials insist the latest violence is not ethnically motivated but Kurdish leaders disagree, saying Tehran's discriminatory treatment of their people is stirring the unrest.

A recent U.N. report suggested that Tehran was discriminating against its religious and ethnic minorities in the provision of basic amenities.

The press freedom group Reporters without Borders has criticized Iranian authorities for closing the offices of the Kurdish-language newspapers Asou and Achti.

Austrian authorities are investigating whether Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was involved in the murder of exiled Kurdish leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou and two other politicians in Vienna in 1989.

Iran's 67 million population includes about 6 million Kurds, many of whom live in the mountainous northwest bordering Iraq and Turkey, also home to Kurdish minorities.

Re: Repression of Peaceful Gatherings of Residents of Kurdish Regions of Iran

Date: August 7, 2005

Her Excellency;

IHRAG (Iranian Human Rights Activist Groups in EU and North America), is a non-profit nework of independent Iranian human rights organizations in Europe and North America, formed in Fall of 2001, and it’s activities are merely based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as other United Nation Human Rights Conventions.

According to published reports desiminated from Iran, from official and unofficial sources, following the torture, and subsequent murder of 25 year old Kamal Esfaram (kwnon as Shoane Ghaderi ), in the city of Mahabad, on July 11th, 2005, residents of the city gathered in front of the Governor’s office to demand the arrest and trial of culprits in Mr. Esfaram’s torture and murder. Unfortunately, their peaceful gathering was attacked by the police and the security forces and many people were beaten and several of them were arrested and put to jail.

In support of the demands of their compatriots in Mahabad, residents of some other cities in this region, such as Bookan, Rabt, Oshnavieh, Piranshahr, Sardasht, Baneh, Divandareh, Sanandaj, and Saghez, staged similar peaceful gatherings in the pat three weeks. Instead of attending to their just demands, authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in accordance with their widespread, planned, and systematic violations of the human rights of Iranian people, resorted to more violence and even used helicopter gunships to suppress these gatherings. As a result many people have been injured, arrested and killed in the past 25 days.

Based on reliable information obtained todate, following is the names of 25 people killed:

Based on published reports, hundreds more have been injured, and two regional journals, “Asou” and “Ashti”, have been closed.

Her Excellency,

We, the Iranian Human Rights Activists in EU and North America, ask you and the Secretary General Kofi Annan, to use your good offices to:

1- free all those who have been jailed. ( we should inform you that they have been denied of any access to defence council, and the authorities refuse to inform their families where they are being held);

2- stop prosecuting the injured ones so they can receive prompt and proper medical treatment;

3- deliver the bodies of those who have been killed to their families and allow them to hald proper and dignified funerals for their loved ones; and

4- appoint a UN committee to conduct an investigation in the region as soon as possible.

Tehran, Iran, Aug. 10 – Sixty Iranian women activists made a public appeal on Thursday for the release of a Kurdish feminist campaigner who has been held incommunicado for more than a week after she protested against the Islamic government’s repressive measures in Kurdish areas of Iran.

“More than a week after the arrest of Dr. Roya Toloui, who is a founding member of Kurdish Women for Human Rights group, she has not been allowed to receive any visits from her two children and her lawyer”, the women wrote in an open letter to Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi.

The letter comes in the wake of continuing unrest and clashes in Iran’s Kurdish region between the restive Kurds and government forces. The names of 17 Iranian Kurds shot dead by the security forces since late July have been released. They included three anti-government protesters shot dead in Oshnavieh on July 26, two killed in Baneh on July 30, one shot dead in Sardasht on August 2, and 11 killed in Saqqez on August 3.

Hundreds of residents of the town of Javanroud clashed with security forces on Saturday. Young people chanted anti-government slogans and condemned the brutal crackdown on protesters in the town of Saqqez. Several government buildings were attacked during the protests.

Fresh demonstrations broke out on Monday in the town of Kamyaran, where hundreds of residents chanted anti-government slogans and clashed with the security forces. Clashes continued well past midnight and young protesters attacked government buildings, including state-owned banks. Dozens of protesters were arrested.

On the same day, protesters and government forces fought hit-and-run battles in the districts of Ghafour and 25 Shahrivar in the city of Sanandaj. A 13-year-old demonstrator was shot and wounded during the clashes.

The death under torture of a young man, Shahou Amjadi, who had been detained in a previous demonstration, inflamed the already tense situation in the city. On Saturday, another Sanandaj resident, Zanyar Ashyan, was shot dead at point blank by the paramilitary police. On the same day, plainclothes intelligence agents arrested another activist, Jalal Bahmani, in his office in Sanandaj.

The government’s response to the ongoing unrest in Kurdistan has been to step up the repression and make more arrests. In the early hours of Tuesday, two Kurdish human rights activists, Saman Rasoulpour and Zeynab Bayazidi, were arrested by the security forces in the town of Mahabad. More arrests were reported in Saqqez, Bukan, Dehgolan and Ghorveh.

By NAZILA FATHI
Published: August 14, 2005
TEHRAN, Aug. 13 - Unrest has rocked Iran's northwestern region of Kurdistan in recent weeks leading to the deaths of more than a dozen civilians and several members of the country's security forces.

The protests are the largest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, when Kurdish rebels seeking autonomy fought government forces. Last Sunday, shops in more than a dozen Kurdish towns closed their doors to protest what Kurds regard as discrimination by the government in Tehran and hundreds of people were arrested.

Human Rights Watch reported that 17 people had been killed in three weeks of violence in several towns. A Kurdish group, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, posted on Web sites the names of people it said were the victims. It said more than 200 people had been injured. Four members of Iranian security forces were killed near Oroumieh, a northwestern city, the ISNA news agency reported.

Dozens of activists have been arrested, among them Roya Toloui, a prominent advocate for women's rights, several human rights groups said. The authorities reportedly arrested her at her home in Sanandaj on charges of disturbing the peace and "acting against national security." Two Kurdish newspapers were also shut down. The government is very sensitive about hints of ethnic strife in the country. It has refused to release detailed information about the scale of the turmoil except for several random reports about attacks on government buildings during demonstrations.

The unrest erupted after security forces killed Shivan Qaderi on July 9 in the city of Mahabad. Pictures of the young man's body suggested he had been tortured, and were widely distributed and broadcast on satellite television channels. The government said Mr. Qaderi was a hooligan and accused him of moral and financial violations. The Kurds said he was a political activist. Human Rights Watch, citing reports from Kurdish groups, said Mr. Qaderi was shot in public; the government has not commented on the circumstances surrounding the death. "The incident triggered the unrest but there were other elements to it," said Jalal Jalalizadeh, a former Kurdish member of Iran's Parliament. "Kurdish people have fundamental demands but the government has ignored them. More turmoil can erupt again over other reasons."

Nearly 6 million of Iran's 67 million people are Kurds, most of them Sunni Muslims in a country dominated by Shiites.

According to the Constitution, Sunnis cannot run for president. In protest, many boycotted the presidential election of June 24 and the turnout was less than 20 percent in some cities in Kurdish areas. Many Kurds say they now worry about their future under the new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was supported by conservative parties.

Kurds are also barred from teaching the Kurdish language at schools and face restrictions in publishing Kurdish literature. They say they face discrimination in employment and university admissions. Kurdish cities are among the least developed in the country with the highest levels of unemployment. Kurds have also been discouraged from forming their own political parties.

Iranian Kurds have not sought independence since the 1979 Islamic revolution, which overthrew Shah Reza Pahlavi and brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power, but they have demanded greater autonomy, democracy and freedoms.

However gains won by Kurds in neighboring Iraq have brought hope that some of them can be duplicated in Iran.

"Iranian Kurds now believe they have to struggle to have the similar social and cultural freedoms that Kurds of Iraq have," said Mr. Jalalizadeh, the former member of Parliament. After the 1991 Persian Gulf war, when the British and American forces protected Iraq's Kurdish region from Saddam Hussein's government, the Kurds on the two sides of the border increased their contacts.

Furthermore, five Kurdish satellite television channels, whose programs can be received all through the region, are helping to strengthen Kurdish identity.

One satellite channel, ROJ TV, played an instrumental role in mobilizing people in the recent protests. It announced news about the protests and statements by political parties.

The worst violence broke out in the city of Saqqez on Aug. 3, where the Interior Ministry acknowledged two people were killed and 142 people were arrested. A senior official said government buildings and banks were damaged.

Kurdsat, an Iraqi Kurdish satellite channel based in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, reported that thousands of troops were deployed to put down the protest and as many as 1,200 people were arrested. Human Rights Watch reported that 11 people were killed.

Calm reportedly returned to the Kurdish cities late this week after Kurdish members of Parliament appealed to the protesters.

"The number of casualties and deaths also convinced people that they were paying a high price in the violence," said Khaled Tavakoli, a political activist and journalist in Sanandaj, whose election to Parliament in 2000 was overturned when a conservative watchdog body ruled his votes void. "But people are very proud of the unity that was displayed in different cities."

By NAZILA FATHI
Published: August 14, 2005
TEHRAN, Aug. 13 - Unrest has rocked Iran's northwestern region of Kurdistan in recent weeks leading to the deaths of more than a dozen civilians and several members of the country's security forces.

The protests are the largest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, when Kurdish rebels seeking autonomy fought government forces. Last Sunday, shops in more than a dozen Kurdish towns closed their doors to protest what Kurds regard as discrimination by the government in Tehran and hundreds of people were arrested.

Human Rights Watch reported that 17 people had been killed in three weeks of violence in several towns. A Kurdish group, the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, posted on Web sites the names of people it said were the victims. It said more than 200 people had been injured. Four members of Iranian security forces were killed near Oroumieh, a northwestern city, the ISNA news agency reported.

Dozens of activists have been arrested, among them Roya Toloui, a prominent advocate for women's rights, several human rights groups said. The authorities reportedly arrested her at her home in Sanandaj on charges of disturbing the peace and "acting against national security." Two Kurdish newspapers were also shut down. The government is very sensitive about hints of ethnic strife in the country. It has refused to release detailed information about the scale of the turmoil except for several random reports about attacks on government buildings during demonstrations.

The unrest erupted after security forces killed Shivan Qaderi on July 9 in the city of Mahabad. Pictures of the young man's body suggested he had been tortured, and were widely distributed and broadcast on satellite television channels. The government said Mr. Qaderi was a hooligan and accused him of moral and financial violations. The Kurds said he was a political activist. Human Rights Watch, citing reports from Kurdish groups, said Mr. Qaderi was shot in public; the government has not commented on the circumstances surrounding the death. "The incident triggered the unrest but there were other elements to it," said Jalal Jalalizadeh, a former Kurdish member of Iran's Parliament. "Kurdish people have fundamental demands but the government has ignored them. More turmoil can erupt again over other reasons."

Nearly 6 million of Iran's 67 million people are Kurds, most of them Sunni Muslims in a country dominated by Shiites.

According to the Constitution, Sunnis cannot run for president. In protest, many boycotted the presidential election of June 24 and the turnout was less than 20 percent in some cities in Kurdish areas. Many Kurds say they now worry about their future under the new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was supported by conservative parties.

Kurds are also barred from teaching the Kurdish language at schools and face restrictions in publishing Kurdish literature. They say they face discrimination in employment and university admissions. Kurdish cities are among the least developed in the country with the highest levels of unemployment. Kurds have also been discouraged from forming their own political parties.

Iranian Kurds have not sought independence since the 1979 Islamic revolution, which overthrew Shah Reza Pahlavi and brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to power, but they have demanded greater autonomy, democracy and freedoms.

However gains won by Kurds in neighboring Iraq have brought hope that some of them can be duplicated in Iran.

"Iranian Kurds now believe they have to struggle to have the similar social and cultural freedoms that Kurds of Iraq have," said Mr. Jalalizadeh, the former member of Parliament. After the 1991 Persian Gulf war, when the British and American forces protected Iraq's Kurdish region from Saddam Hussein's government, the Kurds on the two sides of the border increased their contacts.

Furthermore, five Kurdish satellite television channels, whose programs can be received all through the region, are helping to strengthen Kurdish identity.

One satellite channel, ROJ TV, played an instrumental role in mobilizing people in the recent protests. It announced news about the protests and statements by political parties.

The worst violence broke out in the city of Saqqez on Aug. 3, where the Interior Ministry acknowledged two people were killed and 142 people were arrested. A senior official said government buildings and banks were damaged.

Kurdsat, an Iraqi Kurdish satellite channel based in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, reported that thousands of troops were deployed to put down the protest and as many as 1,200 people were arrested. Human Rights Watch reported that 11 people were killed.

Calm reportedly returned to the Kurdish cities late this week after Kurdish members of Parliament appealed to the protesters.

"The number of casualties and deaths also convinced people that they were paying a high price in the violence," said Khaled Tavakoli, a political activist and journalist in Sanandaj, whose election to Parliament in 2000 was overturned when a conservative watchdog body ruled his votes void. "But people are very proud of the unity that was displayed in different cities."